It's Friday 2nd May 1997, Laurent Garnier has just kicked off a majestic four hour set at The Opera House nightclub in Bournemouth and drum'n'bass supremo Grooverider is playing in the second room. It's the first night for Slinky and drum'n'bass sibling Cocoshebeen respectively, but even then the club night knows that nothing less than the best will do... Dan Prince, of Mixmag magazine, described that first night as "the launch of the south coast's premier dance night." And he wasn't wrong!!
Slinky changed the clubbing geography of the UK by giving Bournemouth, and indeed the whole of the South Coast, something to shout about. "Even rival club promoters will admit that Slinky was the reason Bournemouth was put on the clubbing map," said Muzik's Kieran Wyatt.
Slinky entertained up to 2,000 people every Friday night at The Opera House, for over 500 shows in 9 1/2 years - the only remaining big UK club night to be able to boast such a longstanding weekly residency.
Slinky have also achieved many firsts in the Bournemouth area; the first 2am license, the first 3am license, and then the first all-night license with their first BIC event back in November ‘97. The Essential Club Country Live mix was presented in conjunction with Radio 1 and Mixmag as well as being filmed by MTV. It sold out a massive seven weeks in advance!! The night was quoted by Pete Tong and Sky magazine as being "the party of the year".
The Slinky Winter Ball at the BIC in November 1998 was the next hugely successful all-nighter, filmed by Clubavision the event was broadcast nationally on the ITV network with an entire programme exclusively devoted to it, and again sold out weeks in advance. The nation-wide recognition of Slinky led to an invitation to host an arena at the Homelands festival (1999). The Slinky tent was the first to fill up and by 2pm Saturday the Slinky crew had the crowd rocking and the madness continued for 16 hours of Slinky mayhem.
Spring 2000 saw Slinky back on the road as they teamed up with Serious to bring clubbers the Seriously Slinky Arena Tour. This tour visited venues including Exeter Westpoint Arena, Bournemouth International Centre, The Sanctuary @ Milton Keynes and the Cardiff International Arena. These huge events boasted capacity audiences of up to 6000 people with DJs including Carl Cox, Pete Tong, Judge Jules, Tall Paul, Sonique.
After the huge success of Homelands ‘99, Slinky rocked the festival for the second year running (May 2000). Again the tent was full to the seams by 1.30 in the afternoon as people queued to get in to experience the phenomenon that is Slinky. Even the rivers of mud flowing through the tent could not deter the Slinky ravers from havin' it!
The end of 2000 saw Slinky even set up its own artist management, looking after artists such as Lisa Lashes and Rob Tissera as well as Slinky residents Dan Bailey, Tim Lyall and Garry White. Since then Slinky has promoted sell-out events across the globe including Australia, New Zealand, Finland, Germany, Bosnia, Switzerland, USA, Iceland, Dubai, Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, The Philippines and Brazil to name a few!
The summer of 2001 Slinky took up no less than four weekly summer residencies in Tenerife, Mallorca, Benidorm and Ayia Napa and 2003 witnessed Slinky take weekly Friday night residence at the world famous 10,000 capacity Privilege nightclub in Ibiza, re-affirming Slinky's position as a major international player. Summer 2004 saw Slinky join forces with Radio 1's Dave Pearce to create a blistering new Friday night for San Antonio, Ibiza to great success.
Slinky held a weekly residency in Tokyo from October to December 2003 for a special exclusive period at a 1600 capacity club, being the first UK club to do so. In an ambitious scheme the club copied the Opera House in Bournemouth and took it to Tokyo using the same resident DJs, the same guest DJs, as well as UK staff to make the club feel like and have the same atmosphere as the Opera House with brilliant results.
Moving forward to 2006 The Opera House in Bournemouth had to close for refurbishment so Slinky was without a home! Slinky moved to Elements in Bournemouth before new owners took over in 2007 and established a temporary home at the 5 Million Pound Super club called Liquid in nearby Portsmouth. The new owners established three new residents in Lee Haslam, Dav Gomrass & Velos alongside long standing resident Kym Ayres and pushed the brand back into the spotlight with an amazing sell out show with Sander Van Doorn & The Tidy Boys headlining. Slinky would hold one more show at this amazing venue with Judge Jules before Slinky announced some amazing news.
In January 2008 Slinky made every followers dream come true by securing the brands spiritual home once more, The Opera House! As the year progressed, Slinky hosted some of the biggest DJ talent on the planet including Paul Van Dyk, Eddie Halliwell, Ferry Corsten, Judge Jules & Paul Oakenfold. On the International circuit Slinky was truly back to it's old ways too, notching up an incredible 35 tour dates in countries like New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Norway, India, Brazil & of course it's beloved UK. With new ideas and fresh impetus from it's new owners, Slinky's plan for 2009 looks to be even bigger, with even bigger talent joining them at The Opera House and the plan to double it's worldwide events. Slinky is truly one of the fastest growing dance brands on the planet!
